Nuggan is one of the more powerful among the newer gods of the Discworld. He is the state god of Borogravia, but also in charge of paperclips, correct things in the right place in small desk stationery sets, and unnecessary paperwork.

He is very serious about setting prohibitions, which his followers call Abominations. Nuggan thinks that a god ought to prohibit things that people truly want, so that the prohibition has real effect on people's lives. So, Nuggan sets the rules that his people shall eat neither chocolate nor garlic. This makes Borogravian citizens rather angry when finally they taste garlic and/or chocolate and find how tasty it is. For some time, devout and stern Nugganites have been policing their villages to punish people who illegally possess chocolate. There is a profitable but dangerous black market for chocolate in Borogravia (see Monstrous Regiment). Once, a nice and mild young man practically went berserk when, after tasting garlic, he had the chance to meet his god Nuggan (see The Last Hero).

In appearance, Nuggan is a plump but small man with a fussy moustache. The more experienced gods, such as Offler, consider that no god should wear a little fussy moustache like that (see The Last Hero). Nuggan sets these terrible prohibitions for his worshippers, but doesn't tell them if there are any good things that they could and should do ("love thy neighbours" or such), whether they are doing a good job of living their lives. As a result, the Borogravian people are constantly worried that they are breaking some prohibitions. People have a terrible feeling that they will all end in eternal damnation.

Due to complicated mechanisms in belief, it seems to the Nugganites that Nuggan sets a new Abomination every few days. And so therefore he does. The Book of Nuggan (holy text of the Nugganites) is published in a large ring-binder, so that new Abominations can be appended as they are set forth by Nuggan. The Nugganites call it a living testament, a holy book that truly grows.

It has now been proven that Nuggan is effectively insane. By the end of Monstrous Regiment, he has declared babies and the color blue to be Abominations. In the climactic scene of the same book, the Grand Duchess Annagovia, manifesting through Wazzer Goom, declares that Nuggan is effectively dead (which suggests that he may now have faded to small god status - the mere possibility of a god). This explains why she has been reluctantly called back to life of a sort, to fill the void left by Nuggan's passing, and to answer the prayers of a people who have been conditioned for fifty-odd years to see her as their saviour. Vimes the Butcher has backed this up, stating that Ankh-Morporkian priests have confirmed that Nuggan has dwindled to nothing but a voice.

Known Abominations

Chocolate

Garlic

Mushrooms

The colour blue

Babies

Crop rotation

Girls in men's clothing (whether the other way round is an Abomination, too, remains unknown)

Girls knowing how to write

Pictures of living things

Cats

Dwarfs

Barking dogs

Oysters

Shirts with six buttons

Cheese

Messages in the sky (Clacks and carrier pigeons) as prayers may bump into them